Welcome to Unveiled Faces, a Redeemer Presbyterian Church podcast. Please enjoy our feature presentation. How many of us would leap at an opportunity if Christ were here in our midst in a physical capacity to go to Him and open the heart and say, Would you help me in this area of my life? Lord, show me. I need instruction. I need some assistance in wisdom, understanding. I need to develop this skill in the Christian life. I dare say that we would all want such a conference with Him. But you know, brethren, one of the sweet gifts of God is in the Scriptures, we have recorded histories of actual individuals who came and met with Christ or had interactions with God in the opening up of the heart and God coming and communicating to them and giving to them the counsels of His will. and the skill of his know-how and the practical savvy of what it is to live an effective life. Now brethren, we have in this passage we've read in the gospel of Luke chapter 11, an account of one of the disciples, who it was we do not know, But he came to Christ upon the witnessing and the observation of him being in prayer with the Father. And so we read in these words that he came to Christ and he said, Lord, would you teach us to pray like John taught his disciples to pray? And here we find that in reality, how many of us would like that kind of conference with Christ, where he came alongside and gave you some instructions on how to avoid dullness? or this lackadaisical spirit, or this repetition, as it were, of a routine, a religious routine, and how to break through all of that to lay hold of real interaction and communion with God. And brethren, that's exactly what the Lord Jesus is doing here for us. You see, our Heavenly Father knew the things that we had need of even before we asked. And it is right here for us in this counsel that the Lord Jesus gives. Now brethren, in this activity of Christ when he was praying, Think of it. What was it that this disciple observed in the Lord Jesus Christ? What did he witness when Christ was praying? There was a rich intimacy between Christ and his Father. There was a free flowing of his heart into the bosom of his heavenly Father. There was this dependent spirit. Christ went about and he continually stated that I can do nothing except what has been given to me by my Father. And I always do the works given to me by my Father to do. You know, the Lord Jesus Christ said, unless you humble yourself and become as a child. You'll never enter into the kingdom of heaven. And you know, the Lord Jesus Christ, even in his praying, exhibited and demonstrated a childlike faith and trust in his Father. There was a reverence and yet a boldness in the prayers of Christ. And you know what we find in the Scriptures? Is that all of this is ours in Christ Jesus to experience. The same kind of approach to God, our Heavenly Father, that Jesus Christ modeled. Now it is our intention to take this passage up, however, in our approach, there are five points I want to draw our attentions to. And yet, the five points will become five sermons. So, this morning, the first thing I want to highlight is this. That prayer is a preeminently family matter. That's how God views it. That's how our Heavenly Father views it. Prayer, the activity of prayer is preeminently the privilege of a family, the household of God. And so we want to open up this part today, and then we want to move on and look at the content of prayer spoken of in verses two through four, and then the essential earnestness in prayer in verses five through eight, and the assurance of answered prayer given to us in verse nine, And then finally, in verses 10 to 13, the affectionate focus of prayer that Christ declares we should have. And so this morning, prayer is preeminently a family matter. Now why do I say this? Turn, if you would, to the Gospel of John in chapter 20. And here, upon the Lord Jesus, resurrection from the dead. Mary ran to the tomb, and at first she did not realize who was there before her. It was the resurrected Christ. But then the Lord Jesus communicates to her in such a way that he says, I want you to go back and I want you to tell the disciples something very important. In John chapter 20, and if you look at verse 17, he makes this statement. Jesus said to her, do not cling to me. Because when she found out this was the Lord Jesus raised from the dead, she clung to him in such a way that she never wanted to let him go. And yet he had more work to do. And so he says, do not cling to me in that fashion, for I have not yet ascended to my father. But go to my brethren and say to them, I am ascending to my Father and your Father, and to my God and your God." Here, the resurrected Lord Jesus of Nazareth, the Christ, the Messiah, He's raised from the dead, and then He says, I must now go to my Father and your Father. And so you see, the Lord Jesus is declaring I am going to our Father in heaven. And even the term used in Luke 11 and verse 2, where he declares, and when you pray, say, Father. The term Father there is the usual word for addressing a father within a family. In the book of 1 John 1 and verse 3, John, who actually listened to the Lord Jesus praying, and praying to the Father, and heard all of the counsels that the Lord Jesus gave in that upper room discourse, and recorded for us in John 14, 15, and 16. John heard that instruction from Christ. Explaining the relationship that we have with Christ, with the Father, in the ministry of the Holy Spirit. Now, in the book of 1 John, John records this for us in verse three, John 1, verse three. Truly, our fellowship, our joint participation, our united union and activity, and the sphere in which we now have been born into is with the Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ. And even in 1 John 3 1, it says this, behold, and the term there behold, it simply means this. Come, there is something that is so out of this world, something that is not to be seen this side of heaven except God breaks in upon the human race. Behold, what manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us. And what is this love in its power and influence and effect upon the human soul that we should be called the sons of God, the children of God? Behold what out of the world love is this. It is foreign to the human race in its fallen state. Behold what manner of love the Father has burst in upon us and intruded into our lives. that we should now be called the sons of God, the children of God. You see, dear ones, what God has done is produced a family, a family wherein He is known as our Father in heaven. We see this come forth in the book of Ephesians, and this is how Paul wants the church to see itself. Ephesians chapter three, verses 14 through 21. And notice if you would in these words, for this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named. that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height to know the love of Christ, which passes knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly, abundantly, above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen. You see, dear ones, this whole issue of prayer is preeminently a family matter. It is the sons and daughters of the Most High God drawing near to Him in that relationship of family. Our Father and we are His children. Dear ones, I say this is the amazing display of the grace of God infused into the human race that we might be a light unto a lost, darkened world, and that we might be salt that would stir up taste, desire, a sense of wanting to know, this work of God and oh may by the grace of God we exhibit such a desirable witness for the person of Christ to adorn the very doctrine of God. Now there are three things I want to draw our attentions to with reference to this matter of prayer being preeminently a family matter and that is first of all God the Father takes delight in this name and title as Father. He takes delight. He rejoices. He has an internal gladness that wells up within him when his children come and say, Father. Or in Arabic, Abba, Father. In all honesty, the term Father, the title, the name, Father. In Psalm 5 in verse 11, we are told, let them that love your name be joyful in you. And dear one, such a title as my Father. should be one that provokes within us the welling up of rejoicing with joy unspeakable and full of glory, because this is the gift of God that we should enter into such a relationship with Him. You know, when Adam and Eve entered into that independent activity, where they really began to fall suspect, excuse me, to fall under the influences of the evil one, to have a suspicious view that God somehow was holding back something for them. Something that actually was keeping them hedged in from the full fling of enjoyment and delight and experience. You know, he was really simply hedging them in for their own good. But they, rather, rebelled against that and shot out in an independent course and disobeyed God. And through that, our first Adam plunged the whole human race into sin and spiritual death. And beloved, God could have left mankind and would have been just to do so in such a state. God could have actually cloaked himself in darkness and let man just come to full destruction, but he devised means for the banished ones to be brought back into his bosom embrace. And so God chose to draw sinners into his arms and to call them his sons and daughters and to hear them say, Father, Look, if you would, in the book of 2 Corinthians, in chapter 6. 2 Corinthians, chapter 6. And here, Paul is highlighting this amazing privilege for the people of God. 2 Corinthians, chapter 6, and verse 18. He is quoting now, and God says, I will be a father to you, and you shall be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty. You know, there are some that say, you know, I have this struggle with the term father, and it's really rooted in the wretched example of the father I knew. And you know, I know something of that. But even though I knew my own earthly father wasn't the example of what a father should be, I knew that there was something to bore witness as to what a father ought to be. But it wasn't until I began to read in the scriptures after I turned 18 and God did a tender work of grace in my own soul, and I came across those passages where he will be a father to the fatherless. And when your father and your mother forsake you, then the Lord will take you up. And as I read through the Scriptures, I would underline and underscore and memorize passages of Scripture that really did proclaim what a father should be. And of all fathers, our Heavenly Father is the epitome of what a father should be. I look upon myself and I think, oh God, have mercy upon me. I wish I would have been a better father. I wish I'd have been more in tune. I wish I wouldn't have been so distracted, or I wish I wouldn't have been so busy here and there. But you know, I do know this, that my Heavenly Father is even accessible in the felt sense of my failures and shortcomings. And that my access into his council chambers and to sit upon his lap and know his fatherly embrace has been purchased for me in Jesus Christ. And while the human race, look at even the way Christ says in this passage in Luke chapter 11, he says, You be an evil. There's a summation of mankind and men in the human race. You be an evil. Yet you know how to give good gifts to your own children. Well, how much more will your Heavenly Father give with wisdom and appropriateness and with perfection and with all the right ways of responsiveness to us in our need? How much more will our Heavenly Father enter into our lives appropriately? Dear ones, This is a glorious privilege that is ours. Think of it. We who are in Christ Jesus, yes, we are brothers and sisters in the bonds of Christ, but we are sons and daughters of the Almighty, and that is our blood-bought privilege. How did we come into the household? Well, we came in by the new birth. But we're also told we come in by adoption. And I just love that. It's like God has perfectly communicated to us that he does that internal work of making us a whole new creation in Christ Jesus. so that we have a new expression of love and adoration and joy and learning and advancement that goes beyond simply what this world has to give to educate us. We're educated now, not just for our internal well-being, our external well-being, but our eternal well-being, and the world can't give us that. But our Heavenly Father has provided that through the counsels of His Word and the internal ministry of the Holy Spirit so that we might be enabled to live as we ought to live in this world and in the next. No joy unspeakable. And the fullness of the perfection of the saints in glory. That's our privilege. You see, our Heavenly Father has taken care of every aspect and I love the fact that he even uses the concept of adoption. He chose us. I determined to set my love upon you and upon you. I have loved you with an everlasting love and therefore in loving kindness I've drawn you to me. In fact, I want you to know this. I have etched you upon the palms of my hand. Eternity will never erase I chose you from eternity, and only as that time, as it were, spun by, and it came to the appointed place in human history, you were brought forth from death into life in the kingdom of the Son of my love in your mind. You know, brethren, that's exactly how God the Father wants us to relate to Him as His sons and daughters. So do you see the impact? When the Lord Jesus Christ was responding to that disciple, Lord, would you teach us to pray? He said, yes. When you come to pray, say, Father. in all the newness and all the grandness and all the beauty of that family blood-bought privilege. It is preeminently an activity. of family as sons and daughters draw near to their heavenly Father. God takes delight in that name and title. And so let us learn to take delight in that name and title. You know, it's so easy to take biblical concepts. Like so many of us know Romans 8.28, right? And we know all things work together for good to those who are called of God and love God. We can rattle that off, and I messed it up, but we can rattle that off, right? But you know what? Even in the expression of Father, sometimes we can just say it, but lose a sense of the value of the connected relationship. And that's what Christ is gonna emphasize in this passage. You know, Christ doesn't want us to just simply say, Father, He wants us to come with an awareness of who our Father is, and how large-hearted our Father is, and how wise our Father is. Isn't it interesting that in this passage where he's teaching his disciples to pray, he begins by saying, say, Father, and he concludes by saying, how much more will your heavenly Father give? And so it is thoroughly all an exposition of what it is to draw near with a known character of our Heavenly Father, so that we can come like Christ and freely pour out our hearts into the bosom of our caring Heavenly Father. and that we as well can be bold, and we can come reverently, and we can come with that freeness and fullness of access to our Heavenly Father. But let us remember, God takes delight in this name and title. Secondly, I would like to emphasize, God addresses all our fears. in this title and name of Father. He addresses all of our fears in this title. You know, I remember times in our own family where some of my children, maybe it was dark at night, I remember a camping trip and our children were there in the tent and they hear a noise. And what's the first thing they do? Dad, did you hear that? We have foster children coming into our home. And one of the experiences was that these newer children, I think we've had nine in the last two weeks or three weeks or so, come into our home. But I remember when these came into the home, you know, the first thing that they would do at night, they would need lights on because they were so afraid. And I would talk to them and I would say, you know what? I want you to know there's nothing that's going to hurt you in this home. Besides, I'm here, and I'm not going to let anything happen to you. I'm going to protect you, and I'm going to make sure you are safe. But I want you to feel safe as well. You know what? Our Heavenly Father is a superior one who communicates His own determination to dissipate our fears. He says, I have sent forth the Holy Spirit to shed abroad in your heart the love of God. And what does the love of God do? It casts out what? Fear. Perfect love casts out fear. And therefore, He wants in this title, Father, to assure us of His love and His power, to care for us, defend us, watch over us, and protect us, to stir up within us a reverent attentiveness toward Him When I have my children, I remember through the years when we had family worship and family devotions, I had all my children sit on the couch, and it was really quite a sweet experience, where they were all attentive, and they kept their eyes upon me. And we interacted, and we talked, and we brought out biblical truth. But there was that sense in which they had a respect for me as their father. And as we interacted, that's what God wants from us. He wants our attentive gaze to Him, like children assembled together to listen to their Father and to stir up our affections toward Him. You know, isn't it amazing in the parable of the prodigal son, as he went into that foreign country and indulged, as it were, his own capacity for sinful living, When he came, the father saw him approaching afar off. What did the father do? The father ran to him. The father ran to him, threw his arms around him, put a coat upon him, put a ring upon his finger. What did he do? The father was in this sense, prodigal in his expressions of acceptance and love and care and provision. He showed the indulgence of mercy upon mercy, lavished upon that prodigal as he returned. And you know, our heavenly father wants us to see him like that. that as we come to Him, He loves, He cares, and He wants to wrap us up in His arms and show us the clothing that He has provided in His Son, that clothing of righteousness and full acceptance before Him, but also the ring upon our finger, and that He assures us He is our Father, is going to be attentive to all of our needs throughout our earthly pilgrimage. He carries us upon His heart, and He wants a deepening experience with us where we marvel and revel in the relationship that we have with Him. He is our Father, and He addresses all of our fears, and to confirm as well our confidence in prayer to Him. I love that passage in Psalm 62, verse 8. that God is a refuge for us. And because of that, we should trust in Him at all times. Trust in Him at all times, you saints. Pour out your hearts to Him because of that relationship that He has with us. And He looks with anticipation for us to enjoy that relationship with Him. In 1 Peter 5 and verse 7, we are told, casting all our care upon Him. Why? What is the atmosphere, what to breathe in, enrolling our cares upon Him, that He cares for us. And that is what God, our Heavenly Father, that's what He does, and that's what He wants us to rest in and view and see in Him. That's His heart. That is His heart and His intention toward all of His people. And so, dear brethren, we have a most gracious, precious, heavenly Father. And the Lord Jesus says, He is my Father and He is your Father. Let us enjoy communion with Him in the pouring out of our hearts. The last thing I want to highlight is this. is that the Father in Christ makes this title an invitational expression, an invitational expression. And he invites us to enjoy a real relationship. He wants that. He wants us to know the realness of genuine opening up of the heart and drawing in his counsels at times in adoration and praise and worship and extolling his virtues and glories and character. You know, I went through a terrible trial and my wife said, honey, what is it that gives you confidence? I said, with trembling voice, but also with this sense, you know, it's the character of God. It's the character of my Heavenly Father. It's the character of Christ, my Savior. It's the fact that they are reliable and their word of promise and the expressions of their bond of love and their covenant of love, it's real, it can be banked upon. And you know, dear ones, our Heavenly Father wants us to enter into a real relationship with Him so that when we say, Father, There's some depth of meaning in that. And it's an expression of genuine prized relationship. Dear ones, to go to Him as the one who can meet all our needs, To go to Him, the Lord is my portion. To confirm to us that He will supply all of our needs. Isn't it amazing that the Lord Jesus Christ, in expounding the very character of our heavenly Father, says in Matthew chapter six and verse 12, your Father which is in heaven knows you have need of these things. and yet he would be sought of by us to have them met. He knows our needs and he wants to assure us that he pities us in all of our trials and tribulations and struggles, our difficulties. In Psalm 103, he knows our frame. He knows that we are but dust, but as a heavenly father, he takes in the heart and he cares for us as a father does his children. Turn, if you would, just one passage in Malachi 3.17. This actually surprised me when I first read it. In Malachi, the last book of the Old Testament, Malachi 3.17. Listen to this expression. They shall be mine, says the Lord of hosts. on the day that I make them my jewels, and I will spare them as a man spares his own son who serves him. You know, there have been times when I've walked along with my little girls, and as I've held their hand, you see somebody come along, and they look down, and they say, oh, what a jewel she is. And part of me says, well, you know, at home, she's a little bit different at times. But you know, I look down and I say, yes, she's a treasure. You know, God looks upon his children as his jewels, as his treasures, as those who are the focus of his delight and his love. And so, dear ones, when the Lord Jesus says, in response to that disciple, teaches to pray, he says, well, when you pray, say, Father, And there's a wealth of relational depth and richness wrapped up in that concept, Father. And may the Lord in his kindness seal that to our hearts, that it opens up our souls so that when we pray, we might pray more intently and intentionally. to draw near to that vast heart of our capable, skillful, heavenly Father who has set his love upon us from all eternity. Let us pray. Our Father, we pray that in your kindness and mercy that you would make your word effectual to our hearts, strengthening to our souls, and expanding in our own relational walk with you. Hear us and be our help for Jesus' sake. Amen. This has been a presentation of Redeemer Presbyterian Church. For more resources and information, please stop by our website at visitredeemer.org. All material herewithin, unless otherwise noted. Copyright Redeemer Presbyterian Church. Elk Grove, California. Music furnished by Nathan Clark George. Available at nathanclarkgeorge.com.